Infectious Disease

Michael Chan of the Ohio State Research Foundation in the U.S. will develop an engineered strain of bacteria used to ferment beans in traditional Asian and African diets, to display an antigen from the Tuberculosis bacterium. The engineered bacillus will then be used to make the traditional Asian dish natto, which can serve as a kind of oral vaccine to elicit a strong immune response. If successful, this strategy can be used to introduce a variety of disease antigens through culturally accepted foods.

Steven Meshnick and Carla Hand of the University of North Carolina in the U.S. will develop a bio-compatible, biodegradable polymer device that can be placed under the skin to introduce vaccines and antigens to the immune system. The device will attract immune cells and trigger their proliferation as well asact as an adjuvant at the site of injection. If successful, the device could help boost immune response to new and existing vaccines.

Shelley McGuire of Washington State University, along with Mark McGuire of the University of Idaho in the U.S, will study whether commensal bacteria in human milk is related to maternal consumption of probiotic foods, and whether these microorganisms in breast milk can help prevent infectious diarrhea in infants. If possible, development of low-cost probiotic foods and breast creams could lead to a decrease in diarrheal illness and deaths among infants.

David Herrin and colleagues at the University of Texas propose to develop a green-algal food source for mosquito larvae into a biological control agent by engineering their chloroplasts to produce larvacidal proteins. The chloroplast genome has significant advantages for genetic modification, including stability and containment.

Frank Robb of the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the U.S. will genetically integrate heat shock proteins from thermopilic organisms, which thrive at relatively high temperatures, into attenuated bacterial vaccines to try to enhance the viability and immunogenicity of these vaccines during the freeze-drying process. If successful, this method could enhance the delivery of low -cost, highly-effective vaccines without the need for refrigeration.

Eamonn Keogh of the University of California- Riverside proposes to develop low cost hardware that can automatically count mosquitoes as they fly past a sensor. Accurate counts of the sex/species of mosquitoes are critical for planning intervention and control strategies to reduce malaria disease transmission.

Sam Lai of the University of North Carolina in the U.S. proposes to investigate methods that immobilize Herpes in mucus secretions that coat all surfaces in the body not covered by skin. If successful, his work may lead to new cost-effective approaches that block infections before viruses can infect cells.

Elizabeth Huttinger of the Manobi Development Foundation in the U.S. proposes to launch free-range freshwater prawn farming in rivers and canals where the parasitic disease schistosomiasis is endemic among children. Prawns are natural predators of snails, the intermediate host of the parasite, and reintroducing the prawn as part of a biological approach called Integrated Infectious Disease Control can not only interrupt the life cycle of the parasite, but also provide an income- generating activity for village women who can harvest and sell the prawns.

Rong Wang of Wamax, Inc. in the U.S. will develop a tooth filler which can be applied by hand into cavities to provide long-lasting anti-viral and anti-bacterial functions. If successful, the low-cost dental filler could be applied by non-medical personnel and provide long-lasting protection from infectious diseases that enter the body through the mouth.

Jean-Laurent Casanova of The Rockefeller University in the U.S. seeks to identify single gene mutations that are critical to immunity against bacterial infections. By characterizing these mutations, Casanova could provide insight into a genetic basis for the susceptibility of some children to Tuberculosis, that could inform a recombinant IFN-y drug therapy.